'What just happened'
Before Topaz, formerly "Nagisa", could fully process the series of events that just happened, his world shifted as the blanket underneath him was pulled.
The harsh new reality of his surroundings introduces itself via Topaz's face meeting the hard stone floor.
Before Topaz can regain his bearings, a familiar yet not familiar voice rings out.
"Come on, Tope, Ma's been calling for 5 minutes now. Food's on the table."
Bleary and still disoriented, Topaz tries to ground himself. First off, the floor is weird.
'Why is it so dusty?'
Topaz's eyes roam the room, only to find a nearly empty room. The walls seem to be made of sandstone and the only furniture seems to be his dust-ridden bed and a square basket with clean clothes in a pile.
"Tope!" The voice sounds, now annoyed.
Topaz tries to get on his feet and wobbles a bit. Seems like he hasn't fully adjusted yet. With some effort, Topaz makes his way down the hall and into the dining room.
"Honey, are you doing okay?" The motherly figure asks. His mother, Ruby, has dark red hair that has a dull shine. Her red eyes shine like crystals and are adorned with slight worry.
"Yeah, just a bit tired." Topaz sits on a stool near the table before taking some flat bread from the center. His eyes roam to the other 2 figures at the table.
The person with green eyes and a stony expression is his brother, 'Emer', short for Emerald.
The other sibling takes after Ruby since her hair and eyes are also dark red is his sister 'Rue' or Rubylinda, as Ma calls her.
This family's naming system feels a bit weird. Why all the gemstone motifs? Topaz can't say anything about it though as his name is also a gem.
As Topaz eats, his mouth gets a bit dry and he begins looking for something to drink. Strangely enough, the other 3 still haven't drank anything and have just been eating the crackers and flatbread.
"When are we getting water again?" Rue asks.
Ruby rises from the table, gathering the plates before bringing them to a basin of sand.
"The next shipment should be in a week, luckily your father is liable for 2 more packets of water. We can trade the extras for some tools."
"Tope, take one and give it to Mr. Melstrom when you have the time. We owe him after he patched you and your team after the cave in."
'Tools? Cave in? What am I a miner?'
"Tope?"
"Got it, Ma"
With that, Topaz makes his way back to his room. By now, he remembers what he was doing. This place is on the outskirts of Benzo on the planet Sauluke. Topaz doesn't know why his parents decided a planet that's nearly all desert, was a place to raise kids but there are more pressing issues right now.
Before waking up in this new world. It appears the person of this body is a Scrounger. A job for teens and adults that don't have a degree in higher education yet. Scroungers function both as explorers and prospectors.
There's a reason people live here despite the harsh conditions and it's for the minerals this planet has.
'Heh, minerals. I can already hear voices in my head saying I don't have enough minerals'
Topaz finishes putting on his gear and looks around for a mirror. 'Oh right, I don't have one.' Using the reflective part of his tools, Topaz takes a look at himself. Dusty rags that wrap around his lower mouth combined with the protective gear he has on reminds Topaz of a mix between a mummy and a bandit.
His hair does seem to have a weird luster to it, which is weird since they obviously don't have hair conditioners in this situation.
Topaz begins to make his way out, carrying his pack and his Scrounger I.D. Before he makes it out the door, a hand grabs the handle on his pack.
"Hold on." It was Emer. "You forgot something again, go put on the hair cream."
'The what?' Topaz is confused. They didn't have any hair products?
Emer's deadpan expression doesn't change as he hands over a canister of cream.
"Don't make Ma get mad again, I don't wanna get scolded again for not catching you."
Topaz finally remembers. Coupled with the other strange things this family has, they also have to put a cream in their hair for 'UV protection'. Which is weird since we only put it on our hair and all it does is change our shiny locks into a dull mess.
A few minutes of hair cream later, Topaz once again heads out. As he closes the door and makes his way to the Scrounger headquarters, Topaz familiarizes himself with the neighborhood.
What greets him is a mono-color neighborhood with houses also made of sandstone. It looks like a neighborhood from Tatooine in Star Wars.
Walking along the street, Topaz can't help but try to swallow over and over again as the dry food from earlier seems to be stuck on something. Either it was that, or there's something at the back of his throat and Topaz doesn't have the money to buy a drink to wash it down.
'Ugh, this is gonna be a fun day,' Topaz snarks.